Redwoods are considered some of the tallest trees
in the world. According to the Redwood National
Park, the tallest known redwood tree is 379
feet tall! These trees can grow really tall
due to the large amounts of rain that falls in
the California redwood region (60-140 inches per
year), most of which falls during the winter
months from November to April. And during the
summer months, frequent fog cover further
reduces evapotranspiration, or the loss of
water from the tree leaves. The redwood region is
also a temperate climate, with average
temperatures between 45 and 61 degrees Fahrenheit,
enabling year-long growth. The region also
has rich, fertile soil from the river beds,
providing lots of tree food in the form of
nutrients. Redwoods also have two features which
can be linked to the tall growth. Redwoods have
burl sprouts, which is a hard conglomerate
of several dormant buds (like a tree branch
that has not started growing yet). These burls
promote growth on the trees after the tree is
injured by fire or breakage from wind. So even
when the trees are damaged, they can readily begin
new growth. Redwoods also have few natural
enemies and grow as groves abundant with
redwoods. That helps protect the redwoods from
falling down during heavy winds, since all the
redwoods growing together act as a built-in wind
block.

All of these factors contribute to redwoods
having the right conditions to grow really
tall. A typical old growth redwood can be over
300 feet tall and up to 16-20 feet in diameter
(the distance across the trunk). Most of the
oldest redwoods were cut down during California's
intense logging period in the 1800's, but some
redwoods can live to 2,000 years. Most of the
redwoods protected today are between 500-700 years
old.